This year's trade market in the NFL has been the most active that I have ever seen in my two decades of following the sport. Not only has the market been very active, but it has for the first time in my memory involved a number of well known players. Percy Harvin and Anquan Boldin were traded earlier in this offseason, and within the last 48 hours three more trades have been completed involving some big names in the sport. Not necessarily big production, mind you, but big names nonetheless.
The first trade that we had was the Cleveland Browns trading their back-up quarterback Colt McCoy to the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have recognized that they are going to need a competent back-up for Colin Kaepernick. The pistol offense that they run can expose the quarterback to a lot of punishment and if you're going to survive in the NFL, you need to be prepared to deal with losing your starting quarterback. McCoy became expendable when the Browns brought in Jason Campbell to compete with Brandon Weeden. San Francisco only had to give up, essentially, a seventh round pick to acquire McCoy. The full trade was SF giving up 5th and 7th round selections and Cleveland sending McCoy and a 6th back to SF. The fifth round pick that San Francisco gave up is only six selections away from the sixth that Cleveland sent back, so that's basically a wash. In true Cleveland Browns fashion, they got robbed here. McCoy has never been much of a decent player, but I think that they could have, and should have, been able to secure more than just a seventh round pick for him.
The second trade was one that I mentioned would happen in a post I made a few days ago (read it here: http://aspoonfulofsports.blogspot.com/2013/03/bye-bye-birdie.html). Matt Flynn has officially been traded to the Oakland Raiders. This is a trade that makes sense for everyone involved. Seattle receives a fifth round pick in next year's draft and a conditional seventh round pick in the 2015 draft. Oakland manages to bring in something the franchise has lacked since the days of Rich Gannon, a quarterback with some actual talent. And Matt Flynn will, ostensibly, finally get a chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, something he has been coveting since making a name for himself filling in for Aaron Rodgers back in 2010 and 2011. This is one of the few trades where everyone involved wins.
With the acquisition of Matt Flynn, the Oakland Raiders' previous starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, also became expendable. With a salary of $13 million this season and an unwillingness to restructure his contract, it was clear to everyone that Palmer was not going to go into this season as a Raider. With the Cardinals having a glaring need for a quarterback, having released their previous starting QB Kevin Kolb, they decided to pull the trigger, shipping one of their two sixth round picks in this year's draft and a getting Palmer and a sixth round pick in return.
There you have it folks, a recap of what has become a wild off-season in the NFL. Here's hoping that it stays this wild going into the draft.
*the title is my wonderful fiancee's attempt at being clever. I love her, so I'm keeping it.
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